M.O.O.S.E.

by Terry Bland

During the Eighties I was involved in a number of transatlantic televisual translations, bringing a number of Brit hits to a new American audience including Bergerac (Sanchez), Crossroads (Motel California) and Emmerdale Farm (Dallas). However, my fondest memories of my time in the States come from working on all-original action show M.O.O.S.E., starring future Babylon 5 legend Bruce Boxleitner in the lead role as Michael ‘Mac’ McCormack.

M.O.O.S.E. was the acronym for the top secret Mobile Overseas Operations in Special Espionage. Action TV was at its height, viewers wanted to see justice prevail and with M.O.O.S.E there were no borders, no limits, no holds barred in the fight against international crime and terror. Many of their adversaries were simple drug barons, Mafiosi and Mexicans. The greatest threat that M.O.O.S.E faced came in the form of the Federation of Evil Lords of Crime & Hatred (FELCH). They were, admittedly, a rather pantomime bunch of villains and many found FELCH hard to swallow but there was no doubting the thrills as Mac and the team cracked the whip of justice and came down hard on their foes.

Joining Boxleitner’s Nam vet and former astronaut, Michael ‘Mac’ McCormack, were Terri Treas (later of the Alien Nation TV series) as the linguist Annie Bancroft, Albert Schultz (cheap Canadian actor) as Murray Goldberg, young computer scientist and technical genius, and Tim Rossovich as muscleman Henry ‘Hank’ Hendricks. Rossovich knew Tom Selleck and only got the part due to a lost bet with Tom. I forget the exact details but Steve Guttenberg was involved somehow, as was a large glazed ham. Crazy days.

We were one of the first shows to really take advantage of shooting in Canada. I spent much of 1983 pretending that Vancouver was ‘overseas’, mostly Russia although in one standout episode the team found themselves in Sweden fighting an outbreak of Stockholm syndrome. This nefarious plague had accompanied an atomic wind from a Soviet missile test and was infecting Western Europe with communism. An Eskimo mystic named Nuk Nuk was rumoured to hold the key to a cure. The team went in search of her only to find that she was the last speaker of her language, an obscure Romany dialect thought long dead. Annie’s linguistic skills were put the test as she struggled to overcome the extreme language barrier. Meanwhile, the Russians had found out about Nuk Nuk and sent their agents to finish her off and so it was up to the men to protect the source of the cure. The race took on a more personal note as Murray fell in love with local Swedish lovely Britt (played by another cheap Canadian). Poor Britt had become infected with the disease and started foaming at the mouth and ranting about collective farms. It still breaks my heart every time I see Murray weeping as he points the gun at Britt, closes his eyes and prepares to do the merciful thing. As his finger squeezes the trigger his hand is knocked out of the way, the bullet harmlessly smashing into some wood panelling. Mac and Hank have arrived just in time to tell him that Annie has deciphered the cure. Britt can be saved.

It wasn’t until I was at a M.O.O.S.E convention in 1992 that someone explained to me what Stockholm syndrome actually is but I still maintain it was one of our better episodes. It shows the power of a decent story over basic facts. We may not have been renowned for our accuracy but we knew good action and that kept people tuning in for two seasons of solid thrills. Syndication has kept the show alive in the heads of many and is remarkably popular in Belgium where every year the world’s biggest M.O.O.S.E convention takes place. Come along, dress-up and watch the M.O.O.S.E-a-thon, take advantage of the generous buffet and join me and the actress who played Nuk Nuk for our hilarious Q&A session.